Walnut huller



F. JANIK WALNUT HULLER Sept. 9, 1941.

Filed Dec. 5, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Frank Jan z'h A TORNEY JANI WALNUT HULLER Sept 1941.

.3 eets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec.

INVENTQR Fr J nih ORNEY F. JA-NIK WALNUT HULLER Sept. 9, 1941.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 5, 1959 g. T ZERO;

INVENTOR Frank Jan zJc A- TTORNEY Patented Sept. 9, 1941 UNETE STATES 'ATNT OFFICE WALNUT HULLER Frank Janik, Walnut Creek, Calif.

Application December 5, 1939, Serial No. 307,619

v(ill. 83-35) 1 Claim.

This invention relates to walnut hullers, my principal objects being to provide a huller so constructed that the nuts will be efficiently hulled without danger of cracking the nuts, and which may either be made in small sizes for hand operation, or in larger sizes for power operation while maintaining equal efficiency in either case.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved huller as made in a small size for hand operation.

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of the huller.

Figure 3 is a top plan view, with the upper parts removed along half of the huller.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the huller comprises a suitable supporting framework on which is mounted a platform 2 having a large rectangular opening 3 intermediate its ends. Transverse grate bars 4 extend from side to side of this opening, these bars being set on edge with a downward slant to the rear, their upper leading edges being sharp. The bars are spaced apart sufficiently to pass hull sections, but not whole nuts, therebetween. A removable hull catching tray 5 is supported on the frame below the platform.

Supported from the frame and upstanding from the platform is a nut intake or feed hopper 6, which at the bottom is the same width as, and delivers at its rear end onto, the platform at its forward end just ahead of the opening 3. A manually adjustable vertical gate 7 at the rear end of the hopper controls the flow of nuts therefrom, while just beyond gate 1 a vertical spring pressed swing gate 8 is provided. This gate is pivoted at its upper end as at 9 for rearward swinging movement, and is thus intermittently moved in opposition to the spring action with the operation of the machine, and so as to increase the height of the opening formed between said gate and the platform by suitable means.

This means includes an endless chain I0, whose opposed runs are vertically spaced. This chain is mounted on end sprockets i I beyond the platform 2 and which are fixed on shafts l2 journaled on the frame. This chain is disposed centrally of the width of the platform, and its upper run clears the same so that there is no drag, while the lower run clears the tray 5, which is below the chain.

Projecting laterally from the chain at intervals on both sides thereof are cleats i3 of T form in cross section, which extend practically the full width of the platform. These cleats not only engage and sweep'nuts from the hopper past the gate 1, but by reason of arms [4 rigid with and depending from gate 8 into the path of the cleats close to the chain, swings said gate rearwardly so as to pass the nuts engaged by the cleats. In this manner, I limit the feeding of nuts from the hopper in accordance with the speed of the chain, and thus prevent possible clogging of the hulling area beyond the hopper and a resultant possible inefficient hulling action.

The hulling chamber, which is immediately beyond the hopper, is included between side walls I5 upstanding from the platform and which may be made as extensions of the side walls of the lower portion of the hopper, as shown; and end walls l5a, the forward one of which is the rear Wall of the hopper. This chamber extends beyond the rear sprocket II a sufiicient distance to enable hulled nuts to drop clear of the same. At this end particularly, the platform is in effect extended to adjacent the rear edge of said sprocket by apron plates 16 on opposite sides of the latter and curved substantially concentric therewith down the rear side of said sprocket.

Mounted between side walls I5 a considerable distance above the platform and grated opening is a rectangular supporting member I! for a plurality of spring fingers I8. These fingers are mounted on the under side of the member in the form of longitudinally spaced transversely extending rows. The fingers of each row are set with a downward slope to the rear and project into overlapping relationship to the plane of the fingers of an adjacent row. The fingers of adjacent rows are disposed in staggered relation to each other transversely of the machine as indicated in Fig. 3, and all the fingers terminate at their rear lower end in downwardly and forwardly projecting rigid lips IS.

The member I! at its forward end is provided with upstanding straps or arms 26 at the sides, which are swung on a headed cross rod 2|. This rod projects through vertical slots 22 in the side walls l5 and is clamped at any desired point in the length of the slot by a clamping nut 23 on the rod.

Member I1 is thus set at the outset of operations on any particular run of nuts so that the vertical distance of the lips 19 of the foremost row of fingers from the platform is approximately equal to the diameter of the smallest hulled nut.

At its rear end, member I? is provided with upstanding hanger brackets 24 which overhang the side walls l5. Adjustable set screws 25, which bear on top of said side walls, are mounted in the overhanging portions of the brackets, which also serve as supports for the upper end of depending tension springs 25, which at their lower end are secured on the outside of walls 15. Secured on the outer end of the rear shaft I2 is a flywheel 21 from which a handle 28 projects for hand rotation of said shaft. This flywheel may be formed with a V-belt groove 29 as shown, in order that the wheel may be used without change in a power driven machine, in which event the drive motor is mounted on a platform 33 supported from the frame I a suitable distance below the tray 5.

In operation, nuts to be hulled are first deposited in the hopper, the lowermost nuts resting on the adjacent portion of the platform. The wheel 21 is turned in a direction to cause the upper run of the chain to move rearwardly or from the upper along the hulling chamber. The cleats 63 thus successively engage said lowermost nuts in the hopper, and push them past gate 3 and along the hulling chamber. In this chamber, they are caught by the various fingerlips 19, which act to cause the hulls to be split as the nuts continue to be moved along. Variation in diameter of unhulled or hulled nuts is provided for without danger of the nuts being cracked or the machine damaged by reason of both the resilient yieldable nature of the fingers and of the vertically yieldable mounting of the finger supporting member I'l.

Splitting or fracturing of the hulls is aided by the engagement of the sharp edges of the grate bars a with the hulls, which tends to retard any unrestricted movement of the nuts. As the hulls become separated from the nuts they drop between the grate bars onto the tray, while the hulled nuts themselves are carried along by the cleats until they pass onto the apron l6, rolling off the same and out of the hulling chamber into a suitable receptacle 3| positioned below the apron.

The lower run ofchain It) just clears the bottom of the tray 5, so that the forwardly moving cleats l3 will continuously sweep the hulls on the tray off the front open end thereof.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a nut huller, a platform, a hopper delivering onto the platform at one end, a hulling chamher over the platform beyond and adjoining the hopper, a wall separating the hopper and chamber, there being an opening in said wall for the passage of nuts on the platform from the hopper into the hulling chamber, a depending gate pivoted at its upper edge on said wall for swinging movement into the chamber, the lower edge of said gate extending below the top of said opening but clearing the platform, spring means applied to the gate and yieldably resisting swinging of the same upward into the chamber, means to engage and advance nuts from the hopper into the hulling chamber through said opening, said means including a movable element extending lengthwise of the platform through the opening, there being lateral nut engaging cleats projecting at intervals therefrom, and an arm rigid with and depending from the gate into the path of said cleats.

FRANK JANIK. 

